Barbecue season… Bikini season… Wedding season. Ah yes, Chelsea and I have reached that ever-so-special time in our lives when it seems like every weekend in the summer has been spoken for, months in advance. Répondez s’il vous plaît.
I have no complaints- most of the weddings I’ve attended have been pretty awesome. Short and sweet ceremony leading into rounds of delicious food and the almost-ubiquitous open bar. Sprinkle with some ludicrous dancing (pretty much the only late night dancing I do these days since my clubbing days are behind me).
Yeah, sure, you might have to struggle through some stilted family conversations- relatives who haven’t seen you in 10 years and who you probably won’t see for another 10 “oh my gosh, you’re so big now! Are you still dating that nice boy with the bowl cut?” (gawwwwd, no! Geez, Aunt Petunia, that was like 10 boyfriends ago!) (yikes)
Failing that, you’re at a friend’s wedding and no one in their family knows who you are or will remember you. Thus, you find yourself telling funny stories about the bride to break the tension while the more elderly of the bunch mutter embarrassingly racist/sexist/xenophobic/homophobic things, clearly assuming that I am the bride’s secret lover who is going to get drunk and start fighting people (almost definitely not true, well not all of it).
So what does all this have to do with today’s post? I am going to a wedding next month!
This one I am actually really excited about. It’s a destination wedding in Ireland, near the bride’s family home. Ordinarily, I would default to being miserly about money and vacation time and wouldn’t bother making the trip, but in this case I didn’t even consider not going. Both the bride and the groom are close friends and both the coolest, sweetest, most amazing kindred spirits I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Also, knowing them, this is going to be one party I do not want to miss.
Of course, flying from Vancouver to Dublin is no small journey. If I’m going to take the time and money to get that far, why not tack on some extra time and do more traveling around! Sadly, with work I’m pretty much limited to two weeks at a time- but my oh my am I going to make those two weeks really count!
Dublin for a few days, Athlone for a few days (hometown of the bride just west of Dublin) then- CROATIA!!!!!!
Yeah, I know Croatia is nowhere close to Ireland. But, in the grand scheme of things, I have been wanting to visit the country forever and I’ll be a lot closer to it in Ireland than I was in Western Canada.
Yesterday I got all my accommodations booked so, you know, IT’S REAL NOW. I am too excited.
Sooo… if anyone has been and has any suggestions for what to do/see/eat/drink- leave it in the comments!! We’re flying into Split and already have a day or two set aside to explore the islands off the coast.
Right. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. 🙂
Barbecue season! You’d think I would be trying to eat healthy and slim down before my sundress and bikini-filled vacation. Well… yeah, that would make sense. But when have I ever dieted? I don’t have the self-control for that! And I co-run a food blog! (excuses, excuses…)
All things considered, these hot dogs are covered in fresh salsa… so they’re basically salad, right?
I love all the fresh riffs on hot dogs that are going around. They’re a lot more versatile than people give them credit for (see also 40 World Hot Dogs. I love this infographic.)
This hot dog is a little Asian influenced, a little Hawaiian influenced, a little something else. I don’t know how they work, but they really, really do.
The biggest trick to success in this hot dog heaven is scoring the smokies before you put them on the grill. I considered spiral cutting them but I didn’t have any wooden skewers left. As long as your scores are big enough, you will still get that crispy, textural, blistered effect. YUM.
For optimal glazing, glaze the smokies at the end of cooking while they are still hot, so that the scoring has opened up, the sugar in the hoisin won’t burn and the sauce melts into the warm sausage.
Counter all that with spoonfuls of fresh, tangy, fruity salsa- heavenly.
| Hoisin Glazed Hot Dogs with Fresh Pineapple Salsa | Print |
- Salsa:
- 1 pineapple, peeled, cored and diced
- 1 red bell pepper, cored and diced
- ¼ red onion, finely chopped
- 1 jalapeno, deseeded, deveined and finely chopped
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- .
- 6 smokies, scored
- ~ 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2-3 drops toasted sesame oil
- 6 hot dog buns, lightly toasted
- Feta cheese, crumbled (optional)
- Mix all salsa ingredients in a medium mixing bowl then set aside.
- Mix hoisin and sesame oil in a small bowl and set aside.
- Score smokies in a cross hatch pattern along both sides. Grill on a barbecue or in a pan until blistered. Drizzle hoisin sauce over the top of each smokie and remove from heat.
- Serve smokies in hot dog buns topped with pineapple salsa. Top with crumbled feta and additional cilantro if desired.
These look great! I love the addition of that refreshing, pineapple salsa on top! Delicious!
Hands down the best hot dogs I have seen! Love the hoisin glaze especially… it looks wickedly salty, sticky and addictive.
great recipe share! and ireland? and croatia? i am sitting here jealous and hungry. can’t wait to continue this post catch-up journey to see how it went for you. in the meantime… pullin’ out the hoisin.
Great to hear from you again, FoodGeekGraze! 🙂 Ireland was cold and rainy, but green and beautiful (it was lovely to drink in all that green after the drought the west coast has been experiencing as of late!). Croatia was… unbelievable. I would go back every year if it wasn’t a 10 hour flight away. 100% recommend!